


Where Our Voices Sound

by sunlitflowers



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Actress Belle, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, FBI Agent Gold, Mentions of Mental Illness, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8503375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitflowers/pseuds/sunlitflowers
Summary: Following the Oscar nod for her portrayal of a mentally challenged blind woman, Belle French has received incredible backlash. While the Academy anticipated it as being just political and nothing more, the new starlet has now been receiving death threats. Despite being a Hollywood social pariah, they illicit the help of a shamed FBI agent to babysit.





	1. Chapter 1

Five minutes ago Wyatt Gold was at the top of his game. His wife was gorgeous as hell, he made more than the President, was in the best shape of his life and had a job that made him a hero every single time he stepped into work. His son Neal was on a fast track to an Ivy League of his own accord, was dating a sweet girl named Emma Swan and wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Mr Gold was in the greatest physical shape and mentally respect by the entire department. Nothing in this world could have made his life any better. As he ran across a damned jungle of pirates and drug dealers, slicing down vines and shooting down anything else that got in his way, Gold thought only of his perfect life. 

It felt apart all so fast. He hid behind a tree to read a text message from his wife. The FBI had put her up in a glorious hotel room on the island under an alias where she could keep in contact with him. Milah was leaving him for someone she had met in the hotel unless he came home immediately. The shock distracted him from a bag pushed over his head and him being sent down a waterfall. Gold held his breath and went to put himself in the fetal position to protect his limbs, but his leg shattered on a rock. He passed out of blood loss and shock before he even hit the rushing water below. If he resurfaced at all it would be too late. He’d played a hero’s game and was going to die from it. He’d fought so hard not to be his own father and lost everything in doing so. It was all going to be tossed to hell.

When he awoke, his skin was burned and mouth was chapped. Half of his body was still waterlogged and the leg bleeding out. He should have died. He had sun poisoning no doubt and water all in his lungs it made him puke. He crawled using just his arms and upper body strength to get into the shade. There he shucked his rucksack and dumped out the necessary items. He grabbed the swiss knife first to cut open the leg of his pants. Gold winced and grimaced at the sight of his bones outside of his skin. They had crumpled so easily. He knew he was an old man, but he never would have fathomed his own mortality so fragile. He fished through the soaked bag and was glad that at least the plaster had dried out as well. Grinding his teeth through the pain, he wrapped it around his leg. He thought his wedding night had been painful.

Gold searched for something technological that survived the water and the fall. His phone was gone and he didn’t wear watches on missions. Stabbing a nearby stick in the ground told him it was three hours before Milah had texted him. Meaning he had stayed passed out all night by the river bank. Meaning Milah was probably well on to her next man and Neal was motherless once again. Gold sighed at the thought of his son. Neal had overcome so much to get to this point in his life. Gold wasn’t going to let it all be ripped to shreds from another shitty divorce. He had to talk to his son before Milah ruined this. Without communications and no idea when the next chopper would be in, Gold had to get out of there himself. Screw the drug ring threat and the pirates and all of that. His son wasn’t worth getting fucked over because Milah told him something false.

The chopper never came during the several day journey Gold took getting back towards the city. He knew the waterfall was a tourist trap landmark and the hotel they were staying at in the city center was sixty miles due west. Gold’s excellent sixth sense of direction was able to find north, he knew the direction the sun rose and fell in. He headed in a straight line the other direction. At night he set up camp and wrote on tea leaves notes to Neal and the address they were to be delivered in case only his body was found. That wasn’t going to happen. Neal had already been an orphaned foster child before. Gold wasn’t going to let him lose a father. He wasn’t going to let him lose anything. 

“Neal.” 

Gold breathed like a prayer seeing the beacon of hope the hotel offered. He stopped short leaning on the broken tree branch. Armored cars surrounded the parking late with thick tinted windows. Men in suits with earpieces were bringing men out for questioning while their poor families stood by and cried. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation were anything it was heartless when they wanted to know something. If they were here at all then they were here for him. He wasn’t expendable. He meant something to somebody. And not just somebody: an organization that he worked for. As soon as he thought they weren’t just going to throw him away, they charged and grabbed him. If it were possible his leg broke in several more places as they shoved him into the back of a vehicle. 

“Traitor!”

“Coward!”

“Treason!” 

“Liar!” 

The insults came flooding from the rest of the people in the car. Without knowing what he had done wrong, he felt massive amounts of shame. 

“I was black bagged and thrown off the waterfall. I didn’t do anything!” 

“Your wife went missing three days ago. I’ve got the media up my ass about where the hell you’ve been, Gold!” 

“Three days? Milah- where is Neal? Where is my son?” Gold barked, lunging for his Commander as if she had anything to do with it.

“Fuck Cassidy! Do you know what the penalty is for abandoning your post in the middle of a mission?”

Gold grabbed her shirt collar, consequences be damned. “Where is my son?” 

“Let. Go of me. Gold.” Commander Steele warned, eyes blazing enough to make him do as she asked. “Your child is in witness protection after hearing your wife attacked and kidnapped. Now tell me what you did to your wife! When you were supposed to be in the damned jungle!”

“Nothing! I have never hurt my wife! I read a message, but I received no call.” Gold felt no pain over his wife being gone aside from what it was going to do to his son. The eighteen year old never liked Milah, but she was the closest thing he had to a mother. “Let me talk to my boy.”

“Not going to happen.” Steele denied, shaking her head. “Agent Gold, you are under suspension from the FBI until this manner is resolved.”

“Are you saying I can’t see my son until I’ve been cleared innocent?”

Steele grinned and leaned forward. She exposed her chest tattoo proudly. “Should make you more cooperative.”

For the next fifteen months, Wyatt Gold’s face was plastered on every news channel, magazine and late night talk show while he battled court and trying to see Neal. Milah was never found and the evidence was piled on Gold better than anything else. She had written a break up letter the night before her kidnapping that had his blood on it. The ballistics examiner discredited that. The scene that the court painted didn’t match how the blood would fall unless it was carefully dripped and it wouldn’t make sense for his own blood to be on the note either. That would imply, his lawyer argued, Gould wouldn’t just let his wife lay a finger on him with his training. He would also have to let her get him close enough to the note with a weapon. When they examined Gold’s body, they found no scars (aside from his leg) that would bring that evidence into play. What saved him was the fingerprints that he gave when brought in for questioning. There was a discrepancy on his left finger as though it had been pricked. If the blood was his, then it was an accident.

With Wyatt Gold acquitted of having his wife kidnapped, he thought things were going to fall back into place. The FBI gave him his job back only out pf payment for the injury he received and for being pr oven not guilty. When he arrived back to the office, however, it was a completely different story. They docked his pay and gave him the smallest amount of work possible. Those that once respected and feared him now looked upon his short stature with disdain and scorn. He was the last one to see his wife alive and they swore that meant he knew something more. He had gotten Neal back, but that didn’t mean anything. His son had been hit the hardest of all this and turned his life one-eighty degrees. He got his girlfriend pregnant, started committing petty theft, and lost every scholarship. No college was going to take him anyway given what his father had done. Neal still loved his father truly and had gotten into multiple fights in defense. But to Gold’s face, he was a problem child. 

“Alright, kids. Settle in.” Commander Steele entered the briefing room to give out the latest missions. 

She passed out the files containing in depth information on what they were discussing today. The subject’s name was Belle French. She was a gorgeous girl from Australian. Apparently Gold was out of touch with pop culture because there was a collective groan at her name.

“Belle French. Australian actress trying to make her name in Hollywood. After getting an Oscar nod for playing a gay, blind social activist in her first American movie, there’s a target on her head. Her career is in jeopardy, but the studio is wanting a bodyguard as she tries to fix her comeback.” 

“Who’s the perp?”

Gold shook his head at the stupid question and Steele settled them with a look. “If we knew that, we’d have the guy in jail wouldn’t we?”

Nobody was volunteering for the job. Gold wanted to be a hero again. He had a leg that he couldn’t walk on without his cane, but he still had his intelligence. He could watch over a pretty actress for an extended period of time. He wouldn’t be start struck, as he wasn’t a deep fan of movies in particular. Nervously fiddling with his fingers, he took a harsh swallow. He had such little confidence in the world left in him and he second doubted himself constantly. If he couldn’t protect Miss French it would cost her life. This time two years ago that wouldn’t be an issue. He would had taken this opportunity up no problem. Gold began thinking of it as such. This would get him away from the office, away from his son for Neal to collect his life and get his forgiveness. The more he thought about it, the more appealing it sounded.

“Commander? I-I’ll take it.”

“Speak up, Gold. I can’t hear you over the sound of your pathetic life.”

He flinched at her insult, much to the amusement of the other agents. “I’ll watch over the girl.” 

“We know what you do when you ‘watch over’ someone you even care about.” One of them snickered. Gold sat and said nothing in return. His neutering had made him more agreeable, something Commander Steele enjoyed.

“Alright. Maybe the two of you can bond over what a mistake your field was. I’ll inform the studio, but prepare for denial again. Oh, and Gold?” 

“Y-yes Commander?” 

“If you mess this up, you’re out. Now, who wants to go to St Barts this weekend?”

As Gold walked out with more information on the French assassination-plot someone rammed his shoulder and made him drop his things. The only difference between this and a high school he investigated was that the agents didn’t laugh and stand around him in a circle. Keeping his bad leg straight, he slid it back so he could bend the knee of the good one. Still an old man this remained to hurt and strain but at least he could gather his papers. Of course, not before someone came by and kicked his foot to make him fall. He landed harsh on the concrete floor so it busted his lip and chipped a tooth. He had to grab his papers and crawl using only his upper body to a wall for support. The janitor came by and yelled remarks about Gold getting blood on the floor. Gold was quick to apologize for that.

He went home that afternoon to pack after Steele gave him the good news the studio was willing to settle for their least capable agent. They were going to keep him under secret as best they could anyway. Only Belle, her father-manager-agent and employer would know Gold’s real purpose. He would be informed with his role when landing that Monday in Maine, where Belle was filming an indecent film on location under the same studio. Before jetting out on this adventure, he needed to have a multi-syllable conversation with Neal to see if his son was okay with this. Neal had seen movies with Emma. Maybe he would know of Belle French and offer a better source of Intel. 

“Hey, pop.” Neal greeted and Gold nearly fainted that he got that much.

“Hey, kid. Have you eaten? I picked up takeout, but we can always use it for leftovers tomorrow.” 

“What’d you get?” Neal asked while stuffing his face with chips. Gold paced himself towards the coffee table and set the food down. 

“Your favorite.” 

“Aw, nice!” Neal spilled his chips going for the burgers. “Wait. Burgers on lasagna night? You’re going on a mission aren’t you?”

Gold nodded slowly. Neal always got upset. “I know you don’t like-”

“That means things are going well then? Steele’s done being a heinous bitch and things are going to be better for you!” 

Neal looked so happy about this that Gold didn’t have the heart to say no. So, he nodded. It was the first time Wyatt Gold had ever lied to his son. “I’ll be gone for at least a few months starting Monday.”

“That’s awesome, pop. You wanna watch this with me then?”

“What is this?”

“Saturday Night Live.”

“Oh!” Gold knew that one. “Who is hosting tonight?”

“Emilie O’Hara. It’s super funny and you can tell she’s on Broadway, but they don’t usually use them unless it’s relevant in the news.”

“What is your opinion on the Belle French fiasco?” 

“I know I’m terrified of ever going to Australia because of her in their horror movies. She’s good, real emotional. I’m not blind or gay, so I don’t feel like I can weigh in on her portrayal of Paige Raven. Even if she resembled her something fierce.” Neal shook his head, sucking down the milkshake. 

“People are being quiet mean towards her for it. There’s been a threat against her life.”

“Welcome to the twenty first century version of activism. It’s not like she’s playing someone who was Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian, Native American, or African American.”

“I think you can extend that list by a lot.” Gold commented, proud still of the fact that Neal remained his intelligence. “You are alright with me going?”

“Yes, pop. I trust you.”


	2. Chapter 2

Storybrooke, Maine was a quiet little town on the coast that prided itself on being a place straight from fairy tales. What shunned Agent Wyatt Gold found out, however, was that essentially translated to mean it was a small one horse town. And that was on a busy day. He liked big cities. He grew up in places like Glasgow and Boston then spent the last almost two decades raising a child in Washington D.C. He enjoyed things happening on every corner where people wouldn’t know his coffee order and there were movie theaters that didn’t just have one three week old movie playing. While Gold wasn’t a fan of crowds, it was the anonymity that had attracted him into the large places. Following the court and accusations that he had his second wife kidnapped, finding one person that didn’t know him was a miracle. Storybrooke was a trap he regretted before landing.

He was staying at a hotel and signed in only as ‘Mr Gold’. Martha Lucas didn’t question it, but scoffed seeing him. She didn’t want to let him stay, but apparently his money was multi-lingual. It even spoke asshole. She passed over his key and informed him that this was not a bed and breakfast. He’d have to take care of essentially everything by himself aside from housekeeping. However, if the maids found anything suspicious or he grew to ornery, she reserved the right to kick him out no questions ask. In that brief encounter Gold gathered through his exceptional powers of observation that she was a Widow. In his case files he named her as such. He didn’t think she was the killer, but wanted a list of everyone he met for his own records.

From his view of a modest sized room, he could see where they were shooting the film a few streets over. The phone started ringing.

“Mr Gold? This is August Booth, screenwriter. If you are checked in, we are requiring you. Ms French won’t come out of her trailer.”

“Um, hello. I’m not a babysitter. I’m a bodyguard.”

“You’re whatever Ms Mills say you are, actually. And she says you are to come down here and get our starlet out of her dressing room.”

Fantastic. “O-oh okay. I’ll be down there in a moment.”

So Belle was a diva. Perhaps those horrible reviews were warranted through the bad behavior, but not the death threats. Actual, real ones. Not the thirteen year old commenter kind on the internet. Gold left his packed suitcase on the edge of the bed and left out of the room while calling for a cab. This town of twenty at least had that going for him. He couldn’t afford a rented car on his salary for such a long period of time. Gold took out his badge for confirmation when they arrived on set and looked at it. They claimed to have not been able to afford a new one and just manipulated the one he had. It looked like the ones Neal made when he was a kid. On that note, Gold texted his son that he landed and things were going okay. Tonight if Belle approved of him watching after her, he would be able to tell Neal about this assignment. 

As he approached the set which blocked off the entire street from pedestrian cars, Gold went over what he knew about Belle French. She wouldn’t work on any set unless Ruby Lucas could do her hair and make up. They had apparently gone to school together for drama, but separate departments ended up picking them up. Ruby had done some modeling, a few bit parts in television shows where she played the gorgeous girl next door and nothing else. Not anything vengeful towards Belle to necessitate revenge, so she wasn’t a suspect. The only other person that Belle kept close was the man who organized her appearances and decided which movies she was going to do. Her father. Dating history was a few tender spots here and there. An engagement rumor to Gaston LeGume, but that had ended before it began. Security stopped Gold on the way in. He gave his name and driver’s license to confirm this.

“Right this way, Mr Gold. My apologies. My name is David Nolan. I’ll be the one taking you to Ms French for the next several months.” 

“I see. So, what’s the deal with her? Attitude problem, diva ego?”

“No, by no means. Belle is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.” 

“Then why isn’t she coming out of her room?”

“Would you if someone was plotting to stick a bullet in your brain?” 

Understandable. If Belle knew why he was really there, that would help. He had no issue lying to clients, but it made things so difficult. Gold walked three strides ahead of David Nolan even with the cane. He gathered looks, but paid them no mind. They were just going to judge and doubt that he had ever been an agent anywhere. He could talk to Belle and he would get her out. Because the longer she prolonged this production was the longer he was away from his son. That attacker wasn’t going to just strike during rehearsals unless it was a random occurrence. Given the pre-meditation, they were going to make her suffer through this until she quit and retreated back to Australia with her tail between her legs. Gold wasn’t going to let any of those thing happen. 

The door to her trailer was unlocked when he tried so he wondered why nobody tried opening and pulling her out. Belle was an actress. A good one, giving the reviews from her Australian movies. She could surely put on a fake face like the rest of them. He opened the door to see Belle hyperventilating and tears falling down her face. A taller, slender girl with dark hair and distinctive eyebrows was nearby trying to calm her down. The nervous breakdown only made a little bit of sense, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t deal with. It was mildly intimate what he needed to do, but it would help if she allowed him.

“Ms Lucas, if you don’t mind.” He waved her aside. 

“Excuse me-?”

“I’m Mr Gold. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms French.” 

“I’m so sorry you have to see me like this. I thought I’d be better composed.” Belle turns in her chair to address him. She doesn’t look upon him with doubt or address his leg at all. She smiles and chokes on th breath she’s fighting to stop.

“Let me see your hands.” He asks, holding out his palms. 

Belle looks between her new bodyguard and best friend with a bit of a nervous face. Her hands shake, but he places them in his. “Ms Lucas, leave.”

Both young women are shocked by the request, but Belle nods and Ruby complies. When they are alone, Gold continues. “Alright. Now focus on me. You’re aware I’m here to protect you. Northing’s going to harm you, dearie.”

“You might be able to protect me physically, Mr Gold, but you can’t when they say things.”

“I can actually. Would you like me to?” Belle chuckled and sniffed, wiping it on her shoulder sleeve. “It’s okay, Ms French.”

“You’re really good at first impressions. I thought they were going to send some young guy looking for an easy score.”

That stung a little. “I would be hired to keep you safe regardless of your impression, I don’t really care.” 

He raised her chin up so his hands could hold her neck. Her pulse was still thudding just as hard as when he came in here, but her breathing relaxed. “When you start feeling nervous, come talk to me regardless of tune. Nobody else is to know I’m your guard.”

Belle smiled and stood when Mr Gold removed his hands from her throat. She walked over towards the door and motioned Ruby back in so they could touch up on hair and makeup. He stood by with crossed arm and annoyed look on his face as though he were bothered this part was taking too long. At least they were moving along now. In no time at all now he was leading the way out of the trailer. He received bandaged looks from those that tried before him and failed horribly. A smug smile stayed on his lips in pride of himself that he got the little nervous diva to come out of her safe space. Belle walked a little in front of him, not going too far where she couldn’t feel the warmth radiating off of him. She was glad her father forced this arrangement like so many others. Unlike them, she hoped this wouldn’t lead to anything being a mistake. She used to have a sixth sense about people, but it had been tampered with the last time she trusted it.

Gold was a bit confused to find out that Belle was no leading lady. She wasn’t even playing the best friend. She was a student that sat behind the main antagonist: single name Zelena. That was it. They made her feel like a complete imbecilic moron for not wanting to come out over her playing a background character. Everyone on set was talking about her mistake and how one step wrong would tank this entire picture. She had no lines. She sat there and looked pretty and that was it. Her character was mentioned several times as a joke. She was the foreign exchanged Australian student who couldn’t speak clear English. Gold was so furious over this he thought he was able to be seen from space. Were they so threatened by her talent they thought an idiot would shoot her over this? Zelena was good, but he didn’t think this was any coincidence they had done this to Belle. 

He followed behind the camera as the scene transitioned into the hallway gossip scene. Gold found the camera that was focused on her. They paused filming to set up framing for the scene. He smiled as she waved at him while Ruby touched up her face and fixed the strands of hair. He checked his phone after feeling it buzz and quickly replied. When he looked up Belle was in tears and hugging herself against the wall. He pushed through the guards and hobbled himself over towards her. He shoved people out of the way when they tried stopping him. Were they so heartless? Belle was upset, distraught it appeared, and they didn’t care. 

“Mr Gold, what are you doing?” She quickly moved away before he could wipe the excess mascara.

“Cut!”

“What upset you?”

“It’s a scene. Nothing more.” Belle said calmly, pushing down his hands. “We moved into the next one, remember?”

Gold then looked around at the rest of the people and crew. They all looked quite angry with him, but he didn’t exactly care. He’d rather they be upset with him than her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Alleviated of his current worries he ducked out of the shot. He watched Belle slip back into character as easily as he thought she could. She started crying and he hated seeing her do so simply. Having a meltdown on cue should not be rewarded. Just examined and medicated in a polite, comfortable setting.


End file.
